Coetzee: Bulls not concerned with having it the easiest of the SA teams

The Bulls will not become complacent about their last league phase games, said Marcell Coetzee. Picture: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images/Getty Images Bulls captain Marcell Coetzee said his side are not concerned about talk of them having the easiest run-in of South Africa’s teams in the final four regular-season matches of the United Rugby Championship. The Bulls, embroiled in a fierce mid-table battle in eighth, now face four of the five bottom teams before the knockouts start at the end of May.

Last year’s finalists take on 15th-placed Dragons at Rodney Parade on Friday night (kick-off 8.45pm) before facing 14th-placed Scarlets the following week. Then they return home to host bottom-ranked Zebre Parma and 12th-placed Benetton before the quarterfinals. This,compared to their Gauteng rivals, the Lions, who host leaders Glasgow Warriors and then Connacht, before travelling to previous winners Leinster and Munster.

“If you play for this team and it’s values and culture, you will never look down on any opposition,” said Coetzee. “You respect the opposition, what they bring, no matter where they lie on the log. You have to prepare yourself every week as if you’re playing the best team in the world.” He said he had learned that rugby can humble a player very quickly if they become complacent.

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“You don’t pay too much thought on where they are on the log. For us it’s achieving our goals to make playoffs. “We know we have to fix a few things in our own game and give it our all now. Every game is now vital and you can’t rely on other results to do you favours.” Flyhalf Handré Pollard agreed that no game could be taken lightly in the business end of the season.

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